Barber: “Almost all my bookings happen on the phone, or via text message. There’s nothing I’ve found that’s more efficient than looking at a paper calendar on the wall, and finding them a time. If I have to walk over to the computer, I’ve already wasted too much time. I have 5 seconds to look, and determine when is have a spare block. All the software I’ve tried just gets in the way.”

All the plans in my head, for incredible barbering software, were crushed, in a single conversation.

This is the power of getting out and actually listening to people.

Justin hits some great points home here: namely that a “great idea” is only validated by observing users. Sometimes better software isn’t even the ideal solution. We need to throw out our preconceived notions and listen to our users, and Justin has some great tips to do that.